Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Tuesday 21 September 1999

Scottish Executive

Concordats

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-886 by Donald Dewar on 24 August, whether it intends that the Parliament and its committees be given the opportunity to debate each individual draft concordat between Parliament and Her Majesty’s Government before final draft concordats are presented to Parliament for endorsement.

Mr Jim Wallace: Concordats will be administrative agreements between the Scottish Executive and Whitehall departments. The Scottish Parliament will not be party to any concordats. Concordats will be published only after they have been agreed between administrations.

Education

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to re-introduce free school milk to Scottish primary schools for pupils whose parents are in receipt of either income support or the working families tax credit and disabled persons credit.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, as amended, local authorities must provide free school milk, meals or other refreshments to all school children whose parents receive income support or the income based job seekers allowance.

  Local authorities are not obliged to provide free school milk etc to pupils whose parents receive financial assistance under the new Working Families Tax Credit and Disabled Persons Tax Credit schemes as both schemes already contain an element to cover the cost of school milk and meals.

Education

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what account it proposes to take in its draft Education Bill of the recommendations in Scotland the Sustainable: the Learning Process produced by the former Secretary of State’s advisory Education for Sustainable Development Group.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Improvement in Scottish Education Bill is intended to create a transparent framework for improvement in schools.

  The Scottish Executive is committed to integrating the principles of environmentally and socially sustainable development into all Government policies, including education and the Scotland the Sustainable report was a useful addition to the debate on how this can best be done.

Education

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures proposed in the draft Improvement in Education Bill reflect its commitment to integrate the principles of environmentally and socially sustainable development into all policy areas.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Executive is committed to considering the sustainable development implications of all new pieces of legislation. The Improvement in Scottish Education Bill is intended to create a transparent framework for improvement in schools. Within that framework Ministers will gain powers to set national priorities for schools education while giving authorities flexibility to respond to local needs.

  In parallel we are working to develop the 5-14 curriculum to promote an awareness of sustainable development.

Education

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to take account of the consensus that exists in Scotland on education and sustainable development as embodied in the Education 21 forum.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Scottish Executive is committed to integrating the principles of environmentally and socially sustainable development into all Government policies, including education. The Executive shares many of the aspirations of the Education 21 Forum and we will be taking these into account when developing our policies.

Environment

Mr Duncan McNeil (Greenock and Inverclyde) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when new appointments will be made to the board of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency plays a vital role in safeguarding and improving our environment. I am delighted to announce that Deirdre Hutton has agreed to serve as Deputy Chairman and that Professor Brian Clark, Councillor Susan Clark, Professor Stanley Dagg, Fred Edwards, Bill Furness and Councillor Bill Howatson have accepted my invitation to serve on the Board of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. Two current Board members, whose appointments expire on 11 October 1999, David Hughes Hallett and Councillor Cormick McChord, have agreed to serve for a further term. I look forward to working in partnership with all the Board members.

  I am grateful to Alexander Buchan, Graeme Gordon, Councillor Alastair Hewat, Professor Cliff Johnston, Councillor Alison Magee and Councillor Jennifer Shaw whose terms of appointment end on 11 October 1999 for their contribution to the work of the Board over the past four years.

Finance

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what was the total cost of launching and publishing Making It Work Together: A Programme for Government .

Mr Jack McConnell: The total costs of publication and launch of Making It Work Together (design, photography, printing, Internet web conversion of the text, distribution and costs of the launch at Scottish Power, Cumbernauld on Monday 6 September 1999) are estimated at around £39,400.

Finance

Allan Wilson (Cunninghame North) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authority areas have been beneficiaries of the current programmes of Objective 1 and Objective 2 funding and by how much have they each benefited for the last period for which figures are available.

Mr Jack McConnell: The table shows the extent to which project sponsors in local authority areas have received awards of grant from the European Regional Development fund under the 1994-1999 Objective 1 (Highlands & Islands) Programme and the 1994-96 and 1997-99 Objective 2 (Eastern Scotland and Western Scotland) programmes. Beneficiaries include local authorities, local enterprise companies, the higher and further education sector and the voluntary sector.

  For European Social Fund, Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund and the Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance information on project sponsor organisations or project beneficiaries is not held by local authority area.

  


Local Authority Area 

  Structural 

  Funds Approved 


Structural 

  Funds Approved




Objective 1







Argyll & Bute 

  

14,113,594 

  



Western Isles 

  

27,379,594 

  



Shetland Islands 

  

14,082,633 

  



Orkney Islands 

  

4,438,199 

  



Moray (part) 

  

1,560,540 

  



Highland 

  

56,583,196 

  



Objective 2 – Eastern 

  Scotland







Angus 

  

1,983,171 

  



Clackmannan 

  

6,633,372 

  



Dundee 

  

19,890,653 

  



East Lothian 

  

2,672,582 

  



Edinburgh 

  

2,237,510 

  



Falkirk 

  

12,249,887 

  



Fife 

  

31,412,294 

  



Midlothian 

  

17,939,523 

  



Perth & Kinross (part) 

  

155,020 

  



Stirling (part) 

  

13,607,750 

  



West Lothian 

  

11,408,688 

  



Objective 2 – Western 

  Scotland







North Ayrshire 

  

9,903,529 

  



East Ayrshire 

  

7,619,173 

  



South Ayrshire 

  

7,843,948 

  



West Dunbartonshire 

  

2,359,958 

  



East Dunbartonshire 

  

905,168 

  



East Renfrewshire 

  

853,673 

  



Renfrewshire 

  

16,548,726 

  



Glasgow 

  

140,490,228 

  



North Lanarkshire 

  

14,748,599 

  



South Lanarkshire 

  

12,701,702 

  



Inverclyde 

  

1,151,020

Finance

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many copies of the Making It Work Together: A Programme for Government were published, how many were distributed free of charge, and what the total costs of publication were.

Mr Jack McConnell: 7000 copies of the document Making It Work Together have been printed. Copies have been distributed free of charge to 497 organisations, and to all MSPs and UK Cabinet Ministers. In addition, approximately 850   copies have been distributed for use within the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Parliament.

  The total costs of publication (design, photography, printing, distribution and Internet web conversion of the text) are estimated at around £35,100.

Finance

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received representations from the Association of Local Authority Chief Executives on the Private Finance Initiative.

Mr Jack McConnell: No. The Scottish Executive has not received any such representations.

Finance

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to develop a formal consultative programme for its proposed strategy for modernising government in Scotland.

Mr Jack McConnell: In Making it Work Together – Our Programme of Government we have said that we will publish by the end of 1999 our strategy for modernising government in Scotland. Work on developing the strategy is in hand and I hope to be in a position to announce details in the autumn, including any plans for consultation.

Scottish Executive

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to inform the Parliament’s Committees about Executive announcements.

Mr Tom McCabe: Committee members may be informed of forthcoming announcements, such as news events or consultation documents, at briefings to Committees by Ministers or Scottish Executive Officials. Committee Clerks may also be informed of announcements through their Committee Liaison contacts in the Scottish Executive.

  Executive announcements in the form of consultation documents are made available to the Parliament’s Document Supply Centre. All papers laid before Parliament, whether or not they will be subject to any Parliamentary proceedings, are listed in the Business Bulletin under Section H, and are also available through Document Supply.

  Scottish Executive announcements in the form of press releases are available on the Scottish Executive web-site. The Parliamentary Information Centre (SPICe) currently takes press releases off the web-site and these are available from the reference centre in Parliamentary Headquarters.

  It has recently been agreed that SPICe will be included on the electronic press mailing list thereby speeding the transmission of announcements between the Scottish Executive, Parliament and Committees. It is our intention to continue to make improvements in informing Members as systems develop and in light of experience.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Television

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is aware that some residents of Dumfries and Galloway are unable to receive live broadcasts of the Parliament on BBC2 Scotland and whether it will take this issue up with the BBC.

Sir David Steel: I am aware that viewers in some parts of Scotland are unable to receive certain programmes on BBC2 Scotland. While this is not a matter which the Corporate Body can rectify, I shall raise the matter with the BBC.